24 Tuesday Jul 2012
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≈ Comments Off on Shooting Photos for Entertainment
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As a photographer (when not shooting for a client):
I don’t shoot to impress people; I shoot to entertain myself.
Impressing a few people along the way is nice, but I find it a poor source of motivation for the long run.
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19 Thursday Jul 2012
Posted in All, MGM's Photos
≈ Comments Off on Bat Mitzvah Photos and Artistic Expression
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Regardless of whether I’m photographing an event, a portrait session, or while traveling, I’m always looking for interesting photos that go beyond being of interest to only the participants. These are photos that seem to “elevate” past the specific context of the event.
Granted, some of the photos I take at an event are not very artistic. Most of my event photography is meant to candidly document an event using technical expertise; I believe this is the main deliverable a paying client wants from me. If I can find places in which to throw in some artistic panache, all the better–especially for weddings.
Here are a few from a recent bat mitzvah I photographed. I have photographed numerous bar mitzvahs. And though it had similarities to a bar mitzvah, it also had its unique qualities that you would only find at a party with lots of 12-13 year old girls!
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01 Sunday Jul 2012
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≈ Comments Off on New Features of the Canon 5D Mark III
When a fellow photographer showed me the silent/stealth shutter feature of the Canon 5D Mark III, I decided I needed it because I photograph events that require me to be *very* quiet when I’m taking the photos.
Since purchasing the camera, I’ve discovered additional useful features that I’ll mention here:
1) Dual memory card recording. Like the Canon 1D Mark IV I had previously, this camera has slots for both CF and SD memory cards. You have the option of recording to the cards in parallel (giving yourself an automatic backup card in case one card becomes corrupted) or serially (first one, then the other…giving yourself lots of storage.)
2) Locking mode dial. Unlike the 5D and the 5D Mark II (unless you paid an additional $100 for the latter), you have to push a button in order to change the mode dial. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve accidentally bumped the mode dial on the 5D and 5D Mark II, suddenly finding myself in a totally different mode (e.g., aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, etc) than I expected!
3) Extended Auto ISO up to 12,800 ISO. The 5D Mark II only went up to 3200 in Auto.
4) Auto ISO exposure in Manual mode. My 1D Mark IV had this feature too; though the 5D Mark III improves on it (I’ll explain). There are cases when I want to set the aperture and shutter speeds to particular values and let the ISO fluctuate to find the optimal exposure. The 1D Mark IV had this feature, and the 5D Mark III has it too. However, in addition, the 5D Mark III lets you lock in exposure with the “*” button and then recompose and take a photo at that setting. The 1D Mark IV wouldn’t allow you to use the “*” button (when in manual mode + Auto ISO) to lock in the exposure/ISO. The 5D Mark III does, and it can be *very* useful.
5) Finally increased the number of AF points. With the 5D Mark III, Canon finally increased the number of auto-focus points from the antiquated 9-points of the 5D and 5D Mark II, to an incredible 61 points.
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18 Monday Jun 2012
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≈ Comments Off on Making Photography and Photo Collecting Pay Off
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You can buy a photographic print because: a) you like the photo and want to display it for your enjoyment, or b) because it is–or will be–worth more than you paid for it (i.e., as an investment). Of course, it’s possible you find a photo print that fits both these qualifications.
As a photographer, I’m realizing that even though having customers who buy your work for reason #a is quite nice, it’s really enabling #b to occur that’s ultimately going to pay off most for me and my customers.
And how do you get that to happen? That’s the trick, isn’t it…
>Two clues: 1) the “original” is not a digital image file, 2) the only remaining manifestations of the photo (even if it started as a digital image) are physical.
Note: I think offering limited edition prints of digital image files that will continue to exist may not be strong enough to establish “scarcity” for some photography investors.
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13 Wednesday Jun 2012
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≈ Comments Off on Candid Photography with a Camera-Shy Crowd
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Crowd Candid @ 110mm
Sometimes when I’m doing candid event photography, I find the crowd is particularly sensitive to my presence, and its members tend to turn away or get a stoney expression on their faces whenever I get near.
Of course I’m trying to get photos of people smiling and actively interacting with each other! So, this leeriness and reticence can be a real problem. So what do you do?
Crowd Candid @ 110mm
At this particular event, I got out my small micro 4/3 digital camera with a manual focus 55mm lens (110mm equivalent on a micro 4/3 sensor) and started furtively taking photos from 15-25 feet away from each subject.
It was a crowd of 400 people or so and they were pretty spread out under and near a large banquet tent. There was a lot of room to cover compared to a cramped indoor venue.
110mm turned out to give me a close to ideal focal distance. Of course, it also helps to sort of hide in shadows and to shoot from outside the tent to inside (the sides were open) and vice versa. The 110mm lens simply made being “hidden” much easier to do.
Crowd Candid @ 110mm
Now, I was also carrying around a relatively large Canon 5D Mark III with a wide angle zoom lens. I had to get in pretty close to use this due to the wide angle…and since people were relatively spread out, it was easy to see me coming and turn away!
It’s good to have a relatively wide angle lens and a professional flash on your camera for when groups of people walk up to you and ask, “can you take a picture of us?”. (I’ve been caught with a 70-200mm zoom on my camera and had to tell them to wait while I changed lenses; I dislike being and looking unprepared for those situations.)
It *is* possible to still get candids with such a setup, however. The key is to keep the camera down and not telegraph where you’re looking. Then when you’re within range of the target, bam!..quickly bring the camera up and snap off a shot.
Candid @ 18mm
The key with both cameras & lenses is *being sneaky*…and the actual equipment that will allow you to be “sneaky” will vary with the crowd, the venue, the stage of the event (e.g., have they drunk enough alcohol yet so they don’t even care about the photographer’s presence), and other factors.
If you encounter a camera-shy crowd, instead of getting frustrated, take it as an interesting challenge that you can have fun with…:-).
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06 Wednesday Jun 2012
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≈ Comments Off on A Photography “Groove”
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Finding a photography “groove” (e.g., when taking a series of photos) is much like finding a musical groove. There’s an elevated experience of perception when you’re in it…and you can tell you’re seeing possibilities you wouldn’t normally see.
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05 Tuesday Jun 2012
Posted in All, MGM's Photos, Street
≈ Comments Off on Ithaca Festival Parade Photos 2012
As usual, I took some photos of the annual Ithaca Festival parade while viewing it curbside with my family. Normally I use a DSLR with a zoom lens and take hundreds of photos. Then I edit the photos down, apply adjustments, and upload them to a gallery.
This year, I was sitting on a huge stack of photos that needed to be edited & adjusted from a paid gig when the parade came around and did not want to add hundreds more images to my “stack”.
So I put a wide angle prime lens on my micro 4/3 camera and limited myself to only images that fit this perspective. When you’re standing in a crowd along a parade route with a wide angle lens, it’s difficult not to get some of the crowd in your shots! I just went with it and figured it would have its own certain charm…;p.
I ended up taking relatively few photos and only decided to upload 20+ of my favorites.
After photographing so many events yielding so many photos to go through, this was a nice change…:-).
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30 Wednesday May 2012
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≈ Comments Off on No Reason to Limit Photography to “The Pretty”
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This may just be my personality, but taking only “pretty” or “beautiful” photos all the time would bore me to death. Photography–like other visual arts–isn’t just about pretty pictures. Photographs should at least be as interesting as life, and life is much more than dreamy sunsets and flowers.
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25 Friday May 2012
Posted in All, Book Reviews, Bookstore, eBooks, MGM's Photos, Street
≈ Comments Off on The Won West by Michael Grace-Martin: eBook now Available for Purchase
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book, colorado, ebook, montana, photography, south dakota, west, wyoming
In August, 2011, Michael Grace-Martin took during a road trip with his family through Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota for approximately 2.5 weeks. He found the light, colors, architecture, and terrain to be very different than those found in Upstate New York where he and his family live.
This trip got him thinking about that epic American film, “How the West Was Won” which follows four generations of a family that moved westward from western New York state to the Pacific Ocean. Since “winning” the West, what have we done with it?
This book showcases his photographic journey through the “Won West”.
“Going through this book is like sipping a fine wine aged to perfection.” — reviewer
(There are 152 high-resolution color, black & white, and sepia photos featured in this book.)
See a low resolution preview of the ebook below (without the captions that are in the ebook):
The eBook is available in PDF format for $6.00.
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23 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in All, Book Reviews
≈ Comments Off on New York Edited: Twelve Stories from the City (Book Review)
New York Edited: Twelve Stories from the City is a book containing the work of 12 different photographers from the International Center of Photography’s class of 2011, and edited by the photo editors’ class 2011/2012 at Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie, Berlin.
This combination of having twelve contributing photographers edited by twelve different editors has yielded a strong photographic work.
Many of the photos are black & white street-type shots. But there’s some nice color and portrait work as well. Most of the images are quite dramatic and poignant.
Not only is the selection of images very good, but the way they’ve been sequenced and layed out on the pages is very well done.
The photographers are: Guilia Bianchi, Mike Fernandez, Kirsty Griffin, Romina Hendlin, Mads Holm, Orly Kaufman, Monica Kapoor, Marily Konstantinopoulou, Pepe Rubio Larrauri, Evi Lemberger, Asmita Parelkar, and Benjamin Petit.
The photo editors are: Anna Bianchi, Doreen Blaffert, Carmen Brunner, Suzanne Coleman, Christine Gundelach, Josephine Kaatz, Antonia Kausch, Susanne Lindner, Thomas Ludwig, Ingmar Nehls, Carla Rosorius, and Frauke Schnoor.
You can see a full preview of the book by clicking the book cover image below!
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